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J. DE HARDT.

BURNING BRICKS. No. 337,672. Patented Mar. 9,1886.

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No. 337,672.. Patented Mar. 9, 1886.

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ATTORNEY,

` Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe same.

YUNITED STATES PATENT OEETCE..

JOHN DE HARDT, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

BURNING BRICK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,672, dated March 9, 1886.

l Application filed September 2S, 18:5. Serial No. 175,387. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN DE HARDT, of Kansas City, Jackson county, Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art or Process of Burning Brick, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the ac companying drawings, forming a part hereof.

The object of this invention is to provide a new and more efficient method than heretofore of burning or drying building-brick, sewerpipe, pottery, and the like; and itmay be said to consist, principally, in so arranging thekiln with a forced draft and an adjustable covering` that a substantial pressure will be maintained within the kiln during the progress of the burning operation, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings, which illustrate the manner of carrying out my invention, Figure l represents a sectional side elevation of a kiln and furnace constructed after my invention, the section being taken on line c c, Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is a section on line b b, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a-section through two furnaces on vertical line a a, Fig. I. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of means used in diverting the draft or blast from one furnace to another; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of two furnaces and two kilns arranged after the manner of my invention.

In practice I arrange one or more kilnssuch as N N-'as close to each other as is convenient, and with vertical walls constructed in any desirable manner, so that they may be practically air tight. It is obvious; however, that the kilns may have av circular form, if desired, without departing from the nature of the invention, and such form of kiln will perhaps be preferable. One or more furnaces, E E, are arranged as closely as possible to the kilns, and preferably somewhat below the surface of the ground upon which the kilns are built. From the combustion-chamber of each furnace a trepassage, L, extends to the kilns, and connects therewith by means of branch passages C. These branch passages C lead into the body of the kiln, and are provided with openings I, through which the fire issues. Small arches T are formed in the brick to be burned, and the apertures I open into these. By means of a valve, O, that may he raised,

fire may be excluded from the kiln N, and the entire energy of both furnaces can be directed to kiln N, as may be desired. So the kiln N may be disconnected from fire by manipulating a similarly-placed valve, O', located in its branch passage near the point where it branches from the main passage L. A valve, P, is located in the main fire-passage quite near to the valve O, so that tire may be cut off from kiln N without wastage of heat in the remaining portion of said main passage; and a similar valve, P", is located alsoin the main passage just beyond valve O', to prevent the passage of heat to the remaining portion of the said passage.

By manipulating valves D and D', located in the main passage L, near the furnaces, both furnaces may be thrown open to the kilns; or, by closing valve D and opening valve D', the furnace E may be made to supply heatto thc kilns while furnace E is undergoing repairs, or while said furnace is being recharged, as may be required.

In Fig. l the letters R and R represent the openings from the furnaces to the main repassage.

It will be preferable to locate the furnaces in a pit, of which the letter' B would represent one side, and said furnaces should have their respective ash-pits constructed in such a manner that they may retain a body of water placed therein, for the. purpose of wetting the cinders falling from the grates, whereby the weight of said cinders may be increased, and they may be prevented from being forced upward into the fire when the blast is turned on. The letters G and G represent said ash-pits and the water contained therein.

In order to quickly charge the furnaces, a small car, H, can be arranged upon suitable ways above them to discharge its load of fuel directly into the combustionchainber through openings F F', formed in the top of the furnaces; but the furnaces should also be supplied with the usual iirevdoors and ashpit doors, to be used when desired.

The apparatus above described is intended to operate under a moderate pressure, and hence all the doors and valves, including a cover for the openings in the top of the furnaces, should be fitted to operate substantially airtight.

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After the brick to be burned are properly placed in kiln, it is necessary that a practically tight cover should be placed over them in orderlo retain any pressure. This may be done in several convenient ways. For instance, inthe case of circular kilns, before mentioned, the cover can be of brick, arched over, while in the case of rectangular kilns, like the pressent, I prefer to form a cover by tlrst laying two courses of ready-burned brick very close together upon the green brick, only leaving one out-say two square yards apart-to form an aperture for the escape of smoke. In Fig. 6 ot' the drawings these si'nokefapertures are represented by the letter K,and the upper course ofthe cover by the letter K. It is not intended that all ot' the apertures shown should be left open at one time, for perhaps they would be too numerous, and it would then be impossible to create any sort of a pressure in the kilns. To provide against this, a brick or other suitable obstruction-such as K'l--inay be placed within as many of said apertures as will allow the requisite pressure to be accumulated. l

For creating a Vpressure in the furnaces and in the kilns I propose to make use of any suitable airforcing device that may be Aconnected to them, and as this proposed fanor pump may not be of my invention I have deemed it unnecessary to show such in the drawings.

The style ot' air-forcing device is immaterial,

in my estimation.

A is the pipe orpassage to which the fan or blower should be attached, and it leads to the ash-pits of the furnaces. This blast pipe or passage A is divided, however, before it reaches the furnaces, into two branches, A' and A2, one for each furnace, and a valve, h, is provided at the forks for switching the blast from one furnace to another, as required. A detail view of this valve is shown more clearly in Fig. 5, and its operation is as follows: The valve h is hinged at the apex ot' the branch pipes A A2, and to its stem f is attached a handle, g, that is capable of horizontal movement. By moving the handle g in one direction far enough the valve h will cover the end of branch A', and by throwing said handle in an opposite direction branch A2 will be closed, and the blast will be thrown into branch A. The handle g may be held in any intermediate position by means of a segmentbar, d, iiXed upon the upper side of the branches, and provided with a number of holes, which are engaged by a pin, c, passing through the handle, y as shown.

To make the upper surface of the cover thoroughly air tight, as it is essential that it should be, the upper course of brick, K, should either be laid in soft mud, as a mortar, or the entire upper surface ot' the cover should be covered with a thick coating ot' mud, taking care, ofcourse, not to fill the aperturesK with the material.

Heret'ofore iu burning brick, `sewer-pipe, Sto., in kilns nothing but the natural draft of the kilns has been depended on to urge the fire up to a suiiicient temperature to do the work of burning, there being no pressure whatever, but, ou the contrary, the draft causing a partial vacuum in the lower part ofthe kiln; hence it followed that the brick that were nearest the fire were burned very hard, and those farther away from' it were left comparatively soft and liable to crumblevin use.

-In an apparatus after my improved method almost absolute'unitorniity ot' product is assured. This result is brought about by reason of the furnaces being located at some distance from the kilns, by constructing the furnaces substantially air-tight and supplying them with a forced draft, and by supplying the kilns with a covering to render them air-tight, and by maintaining a pressure in the kilns. As there isa pressure ofuuiform tension throughout the interior of the kilns, they heat is distributed equally in the corners as well as immediately over theA fire, thereby producing a. product that is uniform in hardness, color, and size, which is to be desired. By this method of burning, unlike the old method, all possibility of chilling the material by cold air entering the fire-doors while feeding the tires, and thereby causing the material to check and become brittle, is entirely avoided. l

I have found that, compared with the old method, my process saves from forty to fifty JOHN DE HARDT.

Witnesses: y

J AMES P. FITZPATRICK, BERNARD DONNELLY.

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